St. Sebastian's Celebrates Foreign Language Week

The International Club kicked off National Foreign Language Week on March 2 by hosting Dr. Régine Jean-Charles, a feminist literary scholar and activist who is currently Associate Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and African and African Diaspora Studies at Boston College. 

In her presentation, “Sacred Learning: Doing Language as Vocation and Action,” Dr. Jean-Charles, a child of Haitian immigrants, shared how her study abroad experience in Paris as a college student, and again as a graduate student, shaped the trajectory of her entire career and vocation. She highlighted the importance of complementing her formal education with informal experiences, immersing herself in the vibrant Afro-Parisian culture.  

Dr. Jean-Charles strives to show her students how studying languages can expand their worldview in unexpected ways and teach them to think differently. “When I do language with my students, I do so knowing that it is about more than learning to conjugate or memorizing vocabulary,” shared Dr. Jean-Charles. “It is about sacred learning, understanding that languages hold the keys to unlocking the doors of the world in its multitude and diversity.” Dr. Jean-Charles’ scholarship and teaching on world literatures in French includes work on Black France, Sub-Saharan Africa, Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. She also teaches classes on race and gender like “Where #blacklivesmatter Meets #metoo” and “Black Feminisms 101.” 

During the week, multi-cultural cuisine was served daily by Chefs Mike and Raffi, as well as the rest of the kitchen staff. The International Club also organized a number of events during the course of the week. Club members sold breakfast treats such as strudel, apple turnovers, and churros honoring Germany, Belgium, and Spain, and Italian ices in the afternoon. Daily world trivia questions were given during morning announcement, and games were also set up to celebrate a number of different cultures as well.

Thank you to our guest speaker Dr. Régine Michelle Jean-Charles, Chefs Mike and Raffi and the kitchen staff, and to Shayna Gilman and the International Club.